Trending Designation with Views Made Public Test

[Saints_Aplenty]

Last Thursday afternoon, February 17, a new designation appeared on some designers' listing pages.  I refer to:

We concluded in this thread here that it is an A/B test.  Another Zazzler posted here how much she likes it.  Since I'm not sure mods any longer read posts with accepted solutions (and in this new format for the forums, posts seem to sink faster than in the previous ones), I'll ask another of my questions, an especially important one, I think, here: 

What does Zazzle hope to achieve by making the number of views on some of our items public?

[rebeccawang]

@Saints_Aplenty  If customers think the design or product is trendy they probably would be more likely to buy it! However, I think they should remove the number, and also make the threshold for labeling a product as "trending" much higher.

The threshold for labeling a product as "trending" is really low. Any product with 11 or more views gets the "Trending" label. Which I feel defeats the purpose. One, how can a product that has been viewed 11 times be considered trending? And 2, if every product in the marketplace with over 11 views gets labeled as trending, then the label becomes meaningless, since they will see it on just about every product on the first several pages of a search.

[Saints_Aplenty]

@rebeccawang 

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've said!  (We covered some of the same points in the other thread I cited).  But, that's why I'd like Zazzle to chime in as to what they hope to achieve!

Personally, I too think they should remove the numbers.  I think the numbers will discourage newbies, depress sales for mid-level designers, create more stress for competitive desi... oops, I mean creators, encourage poaching, and make headaches for Zazzle itself with search return results.  And, all for a designation that is rendered meaningless when applied so broadly.  

But, that's just my two-cents, and I'm often on the wrong side of issues it seems.  ; )

[ZBug]

I don't mind the "trending"--it's gimmicky, but customers like that stuff.

But I agree with the numbers not showing. If the number is too high, but it might make things like wedding invitations less appealing to a customer as they may not want something "everyone else has."

And let's be honest, we know views does not equal sales, but customers do not.

[CrazyMermaid]

I agree with @ZBug. Trending is pretty gimicky. But so is "creators" and we are all surviving. You do make a good point about wedding couples not wanting to buy something, if too many other people are viewing it. I am more worried about that than anything else. I guess that is why they are A/B testing it. 

There are plenty of other more effective ways thieves can decide what product to copy. So I'm not worried about it in that respect.